Method and apparatus for arranging looped articles



March 30 ,1926. 1,578,393

cQ c. CADDEN r-:r An. A METHOD AND Arnnuus Fon ARRANGING LooPEDA'RTnrcLas'v Filed Nov.v 17, 1924 2 sheets-shet 1 Y I y// v E i mbps nu. [EaP/e5 -aaasm l/yd .LiL sfiga@-l March ao, 1926. 1,578,393

' C. C. CADDEN ET Al- METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ARHANG'ING LQOPEDARTICLES Filed Nov. 1'7. 1924 -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 zo ...2 nf'rz/azevs wwwPatentedl Mar.' 30,- 1926.

. 1,578,393 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES C. CADDEN, OF AKRON, AND LLOYD L. LANTZER lAND BENJAMINA. EVANS,

OF CUYAHOGAA FALLS, OHIO, ASSIG'NORS TO THE B. F. GOODRICH COMPANY, OF-

NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATIIQQN OF NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ARRANGING LOOPED ARTICLES.

Application led November 17, 1924. Serial No.v750,259.

To all whom 'it may' concern.'

Be it known that we, CHARLES C. CADDEN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Akron,l and LLOYD L. LANTZER and BENJAMIN A. EVANS, citizensof the United States, residing at Cuyahoga Falls, in the county ofSummit and Statev of Oh1o,have invented a certain new and useful Methodand Apparatus for Arranging Looped Articles, of which the following isa'specification.

This inventionV relates'to the art 'of arranging articles in determinaterelation, as in collecting them in orderly arrangement or in determinatequantities, and is especially vapplicable to articles having a loopedportion such as an eye or other formof loop adapted for the receptionof. a manipultaing member, the present invention being ,anv 11nprovementupon that described and claimed" in the copending application of CharlesC.4

Cadden, Serial No. 749,099, filed November The chief objects of 'thepresent invention are to provide for-more rapid, accurate and automaticoperation in the arranging of such articles, and more especially to,provide improved means for controlling the supply of articles to theassembling mechanism and for dividing the succession -of' articles intovdeterminate assemblies.

Of the accompanying drawings.:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a machine embodying and adapted to carryoutv our in vention in its vpreferredlform, part of the feed drum beingsectioned in a different plane and 4broken away.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevation of a portion of the same, on a somewhatsmaller scale.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an elevation-of a portion of the machine, from the right ofFig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5' of Fig. 1, parts being sectioned in adifferent plane and broken away.

' Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6,of Fig. 4.

Referring to the drawings, the machine comprises a frame 10 in whichis'jouriialed a carrier roll-1.1., adapted to be driven,'clocl wise as'viewed in Fig; 1, and to drive an endless carrier belt 12 so mountedupon' an end roll 13and guide rolls 14, 15 as to cause,-

a reach of tliecarrier belt to pass horizontally onto'the carrier rollat the lowest party of its orbit, the belt thus being adapted to catcharticles, such as the rubber bands 16, 16 here shown, as they fall fromthe rotating carrier roll, and carry them upward between the beltv andthe roll as shown, so that, as the belt leaves the roll at the top ofthe latters orbit, the rubber bands will be carried farther forward bythe rotating roll, such of1 them as are not caught by a collectingdevice hereinafter described then falling again onto the carrier belt,to be again carried through the cycle. The guide rolls 14, 15 for thecarrier belt are loosely journaled in the frame 10, and 17 is atightener roll for the belt, loosely journaled between a pair of arms,one of which isshown at 18, pivoted on the frameat 19. 20, 20 are Sideplates secured to the frame 10 and formed with .respective slots 20, 20,in which the margins of the carrier belt travel, to prevent the bandsfrom falling there,- from.v The end roll 13 of the carrier belt issecured upon a shaft 21, upon which is loosely Journaleda -sprocket 22,at the rear of the machine, and a sprocket chain 23, running fromsuitable Adriving means Y(not Shown), i

is mount-'ed upon said sprocket, a guide Sprocket 24 journaled upon abracket 25 projecting from the rear of the* frame, and a sprocket 26secured upon the Shaft 27 of thecarrier roll 11.

For feeding the rubber bands at a Suitablerate onto the carrier`roll 11,a driven feeder drum, 28, having a -cylin`drical wall lformed as agrating, is journaled in a hopber bands, and the drum iS adapted to belslowly driven byla belt 34 mounted upon a pulley 35 Secured to thedrums shaft 36 and' upon a pulley 37 loosely journaled upon the shaft 27of the carrier roll 11 and secured to the sprocket 26.

.For picking off successive bands 16v from the carrier roll, at eachcolumnof bands,

and transferring them in orderly relation, a conveyor screw 38, which isof greatest diameter at its middle and terminates at each end in astraight, axial portion, is mounted in f an inclined position, for itsadjacent i straight end portion to enter successive rubber bands as thelatter pass to it on the carl rier roll 11, said screw in its inclinedposition f relatively large middleportion of the screw so as to preventaxial displacement thereof, said rollers being journaled between a pairof plates 40, 40 bridging the frame 10 and formed at their lower edgeswith notches such as are `shown at 41, 41, Fig. 5, to permit the passageof the bands supported on the screws. Fori'driving said waisted rollersthe f journal of each projects beyond one of the plates 40 and hassecured thereon a spur gear 42,` the several spur gears being sointermeshed with a series of idler gears 43, 43, mounted upon theplate,as to be driven thereby, all inthe same direction, clockwise as viewedin Fig. 5, to drive the screws counter-clockwise as there viewed, one ofthe gears 43, at the end of the series, having secured thereto a beltpulley 44 adapted to be driven by 'a belt 45 running from a pulleyv 46secured to the sprocket 22, said belt passf carrie mg over guide pulleys47, 47 journaled on brackets 48, 48 projecting from the rear of themachine. j 'l l To reventl the rubber bands from being d) around throughthe orbit of the screw, and so compel them to be fed alon by the screw,lani-shaped plate 49, paralle with the axis of the screw, is secured tothe front face of the :forwardplate 40 and extends along and beneath therespective screw in position to stop the bands 1f they start toclimbvwith the rotating scre'w. (See Figs. 1 and 5). Supported from thesame plate 40 at positions between adjacent screws arewedge-shapedguides 50, 50 (see Figs. 1 and 5),.positioned below thescrews and closely adjacent the carrier roll 11, for keeping the bandswhich are notv intercepted by the screws in column formation as theyfall upon the carrier belt 12, so that as they pssagain over the carrierroll they will be concenositions of the screws, lto assure thatasultabl'e number of them will be engaged by the screws.

For receiving the bands in orderly relation from the screws and weighinthem into successive assemblies adapted tov bundled or packed, a lever51 adjacent each screw is secured to a horizontal fulcrum shaft 52having pointed ends, as shown in Fig. 4

said shaft being mounted between a pair of held against an adjustablestop 56 screwed into a cross brace 57 spanning the frame 10, by anadjustable over-center wei ht 58 screwed onto the upper arm of sailever. The greater part of the hook 55 is at the band-receiving side ofthe straight portion of the lever, in order that animaginar line fromthe center of gravity of a file of ands 'on said hook to the center ofthe fulcrum shaft 52 will form an angle of less than 180 with a linerunning from the center of said fulcrum shaft to the center of gravityof the weight 58, the lever and over-center weight thus being adapted toact as a dump scale.l

For receiving each file or hookful fof bands as they are dumped from thehook 55, a conveying hook 59 is mounted upon a vertical arm 60 hinged at61 upon a slide ,62, said arm being urged toward an upright position, inwhich it is stopped by its lower end face abutting the slide, by a pullspring 63 connecting it with the slide, on the side next to thecollecting devices. Each slide 62 is mountedlin an inclined dove-tailguide 64 secured upon the frame 10 and is urged downward and away fromthe collecting devices, toward a stop block 65 mounted on said guide, bya` weight 66 connected with the slide byv a chain 67 running overapulley 68 journaled on the lower end of the guide.

The, conveying hook is so formed that when the arm 60 is in its verticalposition and the slide 62 is at the top of its range,

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the band-receiving portion of said hook will be approximatelyconcentricwith the fulcrum shaft 52 of the collecting hook 55, and

the free end of the conveying hook will be positioned just under thebase portion of the collecting hook, so that it will enfer the bands ofthe file as the latter are swung, in a direction away from thecollecting screws, by the dumping movement of the lever 51 with itscollecting hook 55, the collecting hook having suihclent range in itsdumping movement to transfer a- `complete file ofA bands to theconveying hook and withdraw com letely from them, so that the conveyingook, on, its slide, may be freelyvwith-` drawn, with the bands thereon,by the action of the weight 66.

For limiting the dumping movement of the collecting hook 55, and alsofor restoring 1,5vs,sea

it to collecting position, a lever i69having annif-set upper endportion. 70 adapted to engage the lower arm of the lever 51 is fulcrumedat 71 upon. the lower end of the yportion of the lever will stop thedumping movementl of the lever 51 when the slide is i-n its upper orband-receiving position,

i and will then swing the lever back to col- .projection lectingposition, the weight 58 passing over center, as the slide is drawn downits guide by the weight 66. f

For holding the slide in its uppermost osition, against the force of thewelght 66, until the hook 55 is dumped, a latch lever 73 (see Fig. 6) isfulcrumed at 711 .on the side of the guide 64 and is formed with a camhook adapted to engage a stud 75 on the slide, said lever being adaptedto rest of its own weight againsta 'stop 76 projecting from the side ofthe slide. The other arm of said latch lever is pivoted to the lower endof a verticalpush rod 77 having its upper end guided in an aper-turedlateral the bracket 54, a trip linger 79 being secured upon the fulcrumshaft 52 and adapted to strikejthe top of said push rod near the end ofthe dumping movement of the collecting hook 55,.t o unlatch the lever-73from the slide and permit it to convey away the tile of bands justdelivered to the conveying hook 59 thereon. Devices such as thecrosspins 80, 81 are preferably provided atthe bases of the collectinghook and the delivery hook respectively, to be abutted by the end bandsof each file and thus position the file upon the 'hook and prevent itsdisarrangement. Spurs such'as are shown at 82, 82, at differentpositions for rubber/bands of different lengths may be mounted upon lthearm 60 to prevent the file of bands from lifting and following-alongwith the collecting hook as the latter swings past the conf veying hookin its dumping movement, and to, prevent oscillation or misalignment ofthe file of bands.

In the operationof the machine, a supply of the bands 16 being placed inthe feeddruln 28 andl the Adoor 31 of the latter closed, and the machinebeing driven` through` the chain 23, the bands sift through the .gratingof the rotating drum and are directed into columns, lecting andconveying screwsv 38, as they'fall onto the rotating carrier roll 11. Asthey move forward on said roll, in continuous procession, to thecollecting screws, such of them as are by chance suitablypositioned passwhich convey the y.bands to their opposite ends and there deliver themto the collecting 78 formed on the lower end. of

at the positions of ,the several col` onto the adjacent ends of thescrews,-

hooks 5v5, the hanging bands lpassing through the notches 41 of theplates 40 and being prevented from rotating with the screws by theplates 49'.

Bands not thus collected-fall from the carrier roll 11 onto the carrierbelt 12, their column formation being preserved by the guides 50, andare caused by the belt to pass again over the carrier roll.

When each collectin hook has. received a sufficient 'quantity of bandsto overbalance the Weight 58, the hook quickly swings in vits dumpingmovement, the center of gravity of the Weight being more' nearly alignedvertically with the fulcrum shaft 52, at the beginning of the dumpingmovement, than is that of the lile of bands, so that the weight reachesa strongly dominant position asv to leverage before the center ofgravity of the lile of bands reaches its lowermost position, with theresult that the collecting hook continues to be swung until stoppedbythe oilset portion 70 of the lever 69.

Thus the le of bands is transferred to the adjacent conveying hook 59,the slide 62 being latched in its uppermost position,

and just before the collector -hok is stopped the linger 79 strikes thepush. rod'77, disengaging the latch lever 73 from the stud 75 (Fig. 6)and permitting the connected weight 66 to drawthe slide down its guide64 against the stop 65. During this movement of the slide the stud 72thereon su actuates the lever 69 as to swing the collecting hook backtokv collecting posi`tionthe dumping and return movements of the hook vmomentarily tilts the arm` 60, against' the l force ,of' its spring 63,and removes the weighed file of bands from the hook 59 and secures itasa bundle by means of one of the` rubber bands, or-otherwise unifies ordisposes of it as a unitary assembly, and then returns the slide byhand', against the force of the weight 66, to its band-receivingposition, before the band collecting hook dumps its next file of bands.A single operator may thus attend to the -`several units of the machinein rotation, and the handling of the bands is 'very rapid the feed drumand the guides 30' and 50 being adapted to promote a. regular as wellas. rapid delivery of the bands from thelscrews. The bands are not onlygiven orderly. arrangement .but in theanie, unitary operation areautomat-1- callyl dividedinto determinate assemblages."

' le do not 'wholly limit our Vclaims to the employment of the conveyorscrew -for catching the bands from the carrier roll and transferringthem to the -collector hook, z

but' such transferring means is preferably interposed/between the two inorder that the collector hook may be subject to the weight or force ofonly such bands as are actually threaded thereon.

Modifications may be resorted to without departing from the scope of ourinvention, and 'we do not wholly limit our claims to the exact procedureor the specific construction shown and described.

Ve claim: v

1. The method of arranging looped articles which comprises collectingsaid articles in file formation by engaging a collecting member in theirloops, and sliding them in succession from said member to divide theminto individual assemblages of determinate weight,.the articles beingweighed while in iile formation to determine the points of divisionbetween successive assemblages.

2. The method of arranging looped articles which comprises holding acollecting member in a determinate position while so moving a supply' ofthc'- articles in chance arrangement past the collecting member as tocause the latter to engage in the loops of some of the articles andreceive the same in 'file formation, -sliding the articles in successionfrom the opposite end of the collecting member to divide them intoindividual assemblages of determinate weight, the arf ticles beingweighed while in file formation to determine the points of divisionbetween successive assemblages.

3. Apparatus of the character described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a 'load-receiving member adapted to support a ile of loopedarticles by engagement in their loops, and means for mounting successivelooped articles on said member.

4. Apparatus of thecharacter described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a load-recelvingv member adapted to support a vfile of loopedarticles by engagement in.

their loops, means for mounting successive looped articles in filelformation on said member, and means adapted to receive the file ofarticlesl as the same are dumped by said device and to maintain them inorderly arrangement. v

5. Apparatus of the 'character described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a load-receiving member adapted to support a-file of loopedarticles by engagement in their loops, means for mounting successivelooped articles in file formation on 'said member.l and means adapted toenter the loops of said articles, as an incident of the dumping movementof said device, to 'maintain orderly arrangement of said articles asthey are dumped by said movement.

- 6. Apparatus of the character' described 'comprising a dump-scaledevice including a load-receiving member adapted to support a liley oflooped articles by engagement in their loops, means for mountingsuccessivel looped articles in file formation on said member, and meansforreceiving and conveying' the articles in orderly arrangement as theyare dumped by said device.

7. Apparatus of the character described comprising a'lever having aweighted upper arm adapted to act with an over-center effect and a lowerarm formed with an articlereceiving hook portion curved substantiallyconcentrically with relation to the fulcrum of said lever, means forstopping said lever in load-receiving and in dumped positions, saidlever being so formed that, with the lever in load-receiving positions,the center of gravity of its lower/arm and afile of looped articles hungon its h'ook portion will be farther from vertical alignment with thefulcrum of said lever than the center of gravity of the levers weightedupper arm yis from such alignment, to provide a dumpscale effect.

8. Apparatus of the character described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a pivoted member formed with a load-receiving hook portionadapted to support a file of looped articles by engagement in theirloops, the load-receiving portion ofv said member being curvedsubstantially concentrically with relation to said members pivot, andafile-receiving member having a hook-portion adapted to be so positionedas to receive a file of the articles from said pivoted member as thelatter turns on its pivot in a dumping movement, the hook-portion ofsaid {ilereceiving member being so formed asto be substantiallyconcentric with the pivot of said pivoted member when. in file-receivingposition.

9. Apparatus as defined in claim 8 in which the file-receiving member isso movably mounted as to be presented to the load-receiving hook-portionof the pivoted member in closely spaced, 4concentrically overlappedrelation thereto, and to enter theloop of articles thereon in being sopresented.

10. Apparatus of the character described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a load-receiving member adapted to support a file of loopedarticles by engagement in their loops, a movably mounted file-conveyingmember positionable adjacent said loadreceiving member and adapted toreceive a file-of articles therefrom by engagement in their loops, asthey are dumped by said loadreceiving member, yielding means for urgingsaid -file-conveyin its file-receiving psitlon, a latch for l1old ingsaidl file-conveying member in its film 'receiving position, against theforce of said member` away from yielding means, and means actuated bythe dumping movement of said dump-scale device foizreleasingvsaid latch.l

11. Apparatus of the character described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a load-receiving member adaptedto support a' file of lloopedarticles by engagement in their loops, means for. mounting successivelooped articles in file formation on said member, file-conveying meansfor receiving and conveying away a iile of articles as the same aredumped by said device, and means for.

actuating said file-conveying means and restoring said load-receivingvmember to loadreceiving position in 'timed relation to the .dumpingmovement of said device.

12. Apparatus ofthe character described comprising a dump-scale deviceincluding a load-receiving member adapted to support a file of loopedarticles by engagement in their loops, movably A .mounted filefconveyingmeans positionable adjacent said load-receiving member and adapted toreceive a filethe operator.

of articles dumped therefrom, yielding means for urging saidfile-conveying means away from its file-receiving position, a latch `forholding said' file-conveying means in its file-receiving position,against the 'force .of

,said yielding means, means actuated by the vices for conveying away theles of articles.

as they are dumped therefrom and supporting them .in orderly arrangementfor ready removal at the end ofthe conveying move-- ment each of theconveying devices being adapted to perform'its Aconveying functionautomatically upon the dumping of the filev thereon, and to remain awayfrom its filereceiving position `until returned thereto by 14. A paratusas defined in. claim 13 in -f which t e means .for mounting thev loopedarticles upon the load-receiving members of the dump-scale devicescomprises respective .conveyor screw members each adapted to -receivethe articles by engagement in their loops at one end of the memberand topass the articles, pendently supported, tothe opposite end of the memberand there deliver them onto the associated vload-receivingjmember. i l

15,.Apparatus ofthe character described comprislng a dump-scale devicehaving a 'y load-receiving member adaptedto support a lload ofA loopedarticles by engagement in their loops, conveyor means adapted to pass acontinuous procession of the.. articles onto said load-receiving member,the said dumpscale device vbeing adapted to divide the con- -tinuou'sprocession of articles into assemblages of equal weight, and means forconcles 0n said conveyor means.

16. Apparatus ofthe character comprising an article-receiving memberadapted tosupport a fileaof looped articles by engagement in theirloops, an orbital carrier member adapted to carry a supply of thearticles in chance arrangement thereon in a cyclicpath past saidarticle-receiving mem ber so as` to cause' some of said articles to passthereonto, and means `for continuously replenishing the supply ofarticles on saidy carrier member.

tinuously replenishing the supply of artidescribed i 17. Apparatus asdefined in claim 16-in I which the replenishing means .comprises arotary sifter drum.

18. Apparatus of the character described comprising a rank of spacedapart articlereceiving members each adapted to support a file of .loopedarticles-by engagement in their loops, an orbital carrier member` coinmon to said article-receiving members and adapted to carry `a supplyof articles in chance arrangement pastltheisame so as to cause some ofthe articles to pass onto said l article-receiving members, and meansfor( arranging the articles on said carrier member in columns alignedwith the positions of said article-receiving members.`

19. Apparatus as vdefined in claim 18 lin which .the means for arrangingthe articles in columns comprises a hopper, over the carg and means forsifting the articles into said hopper.4 f I 50. Apparatus of thecharacter described comprising an orbital carrier adapted to carryasupp'ly of looped articles in chance arrangement thereon, aconveyor-screw ,adapted .to engage some of vthe articles as i" they areso-carried,"an'd a member so dis;

` posed along said"screw as .to prevent thev `articles from rotatingwith Ithe screw while permitting to be fed along by the screw.

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rlier member, having column-forming/guidi means 'for articles descendingtherein,

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A11ey In 'Witness whereof we havehereunto set O'urvhands this 6th day ofNovember 1924;. I CHARLES` C. CADDEN.

'Y LLOYD L.v ,LANTZER BENJAMIN A. EVANS.

